This invention relates to conjugating unconjugated unsaturation of fatty acids and in particular to a continuous flow process for accomplishing such conjugation with control of the cis/trans to trans/trans ratio of the conjugated fatty acid product.
Several prior proposals produce conjugated fatty acids in the presence of alkali bases. For example, it has been proposed (U.S. Pat. No. 2,350,583) to conjugate unsaturated higher fatty acids by heating a reaction mixture of an aqueous solution of alkali soaps of the fatty acids containing an excess of alkali in water for several hours at elevated temperature and under autogenic pressure for producing such conjugated fatty acids. Similar conjugation processes operate under substantially anhydrous conditions (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,389,260 and 2,242,230). Another prior proposal utilizes an ether of a polyhedric alcohol which contains a free hydroxyl group as a solvent to dissolve the fatty acid soaps in order to cause the conjugation to occur (U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,644).
The present invention provides a continuous flow process for conjugating unconjugated unsaturation of fatty acids wherein the cis/trans to trans/trans ratio of the conjugated fatty acid product is monitored during the reaction and such ratio of the crude product is controlled thereby. The present flow process also is extremely efficient and rapid.